Dear supporters,
We have great momentum in our movement for quieter & cleaner skies over the NYC metro area!
A new NYC Council bill was introduced on June 16th by Council Member Lincoln Restler along with Gale Brewer, Carlina Rivera, and Shahana Hanif (other cosponsors so far are Amanda Farias, Alexa Aviles, Crystal Hudson, Jennifer Gutierrez, Shekar Krishnan, Shaun Abreu, and Christopher Marte). This bill INT 0551-2022 would require the Department of Small Business Services to require the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to prohibit all non-essential helicopter operations at heliports owned or operated by the City: East 34th Street Heliport (commuter helicopters) and the Downtown Manhattan Heliport (NYC-based sightseeing flights and commuters based there). Please note that West 30th Street Heliport (commuter/charters) is not included in this bill as it falls under the auspices of the State and the NY Hudson River Park Trust Act.
To read a good overview of this brand new bill, see this thorough Brooklyn Eagle article: https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2022/06/16/new-bill-would-ban-non-essential-helicopter-flights-over-new-york-city/
Here is an AM/NY article: https://www.amny.com/news/council-ban-non-essential-helicopter-flights/
If your City Council Member is not yet a cosponsor please reach out to them and urge them to sign on!
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Stop the Chop" Helicopter Bill Awaiting Governor Huchol's Signature:
Recently, companion helicopter bills introduced by State Senator Brad Hoylman and State Assemblymember Dick Gottfried passed in the NY State Legislature and now are awaiting Governor Huchol to sign them in to law! The "Stop the Chop" bills (named after our organization) originally had three sections that 1) created a nuisance cause of action to sue for helicopter noise, and 2) amended the Hudson River Park Act to ban non-essential helicopter use from the park, and 3) amended the New York City Charter to prohibit NYC from entering concession agreements that allowed for the use of heliports for nonessential use.
The version of the bill that passed contains the novel nuisance cause of action that allows private citizens and the NY Attorney General to sue non-NYC based sightseeing helicopter companies to sue for noise pollution over NYC, and explicitly bans sightseeing tours from West 30th Street Heliport (already banned due to a lawsuit decision). We thank our State Electeds for this creative solution to ameliorate some of the helicopter noise over NYC!
(For specific questions about this bill, please contact your State representatives directly.)
Call and/or email Governor Hochul and ask her to
1) Sign this bill into law
2) Close the West 30th Street Heliport located within the Hudson River Park
Use this form or call via: https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form
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Please volunteer with us, donate to us, and share our petition widely. We have great momentum now but we need more boots on the ground and more donations to win this battle against this polluting helicopter industry!
Thanks!
Best,
Melissa Elstein, STCNYNJ Board Chair